Peyote And The Law

Guy Mount

We need spiritual freedom in America. The peyote religion has
been a lifeline from the past for native people. I believe it can
be a lifeline to the future for many others. But the truth is the
Peyote Religion has been suppressed by laws which discriminate
against followers according to their race, and by ideas which
discredit the Good Medicine by classifying it as a dangerous
drug.
In California, for example, the rights of Native Americans
seem protected because of a favorable decision by the California
Supreme Court in the 1964 "Woody Case." However the
rights of non-Indian peyotists are ambiguous at best since their
use of peyote is a felony under state law despite the fact that
peyote proves to be spiritually nourishing and medically
beneficial regardless of ethnic ancestry, and despite the alleged
constitutional right to religious freedom for all Americans.
Three states have exempted peyote from "controlled
substance" prohibitions, and do permit the
"bona-fide" sacramental use of peyote by non-Indians
who are members of an established church: these are New York,
Arizona and New Mexico. The Federal District Court of New York
decided in 1979 that "the use of peyote for sacramental
purposes...is not to be restricted solely to the Native American
Church." Thus a precedent has been clearly established, and
under Arizona laws the Peyote Way Church of God was licensed as
perhaps the first all-race organization with appropriate
authority. A recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United
States (1990) makes it clear that we do not have a constitutional
right to use any controlled substance as a religious sacrament.
Instead, each state has the right to pass laws which honor the
peyote religion, or continue to suppress it. Apparently the First
Amendment only applies to established religions.
The same Peyote Way Church which is legal in Arizona has
encountered difficulties in Texas, where church members were
arrested for harvesting medicine. Charges were dismissed, but the
Church filed a counter-suit against Texas for discrimination,
noting that members of the Native American Church were permitted
to harvest and purchase peyote from local licensed dealers. This
would seem to be a case of obvious racial and religious
discrimination on the part of Texas, but in a decision that makes
a mockery of American history, the Fifth Circuit Court declared
that "Indian Nations were sovereign entities" with
special rights to all of the peyote in the United States.
Therefore members of the Peyote Way Church, with membership open
to all people regardless of ethnic ancestry, could not pick or
purchase peyote in Texas. I would think the previously
unrecognized "Indian Nations" could now use the
language of this decision to sue Texas for the return of their
sovereign land and other natural resources. The American
legislative and judicial system conveniently recognizes Sovereign
Indian Nations only when that point of view perpetuates the
empire.
If the state of Texas really cared about Indian rights, or
preventing the depletion of the natural peyote gardens by
non-Indian peyotists, it would encourage commercial cultivation
of peyote and develop a peyote nature preserve in Starr County,
which had a perpetual harvest plan for providing medicine to the
Native American Church. This would put many south Texas ranchers
back in business, after years of recession-economics. And perhaps
the Native American Church might be more supportive of non-Indian
rights, if the increasingly diminishing natural supply of peyote
were not threatened by a growing demand.